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Archives: Human Services / Articles (page 2)

  • Maryland’s Experiment with Global Budget Revenue image

    Maryland’s Experiment with Global Budget Revenue

    In 2014, Maryland phased out a Medicare fee-for-service payment system in favor of a Global Budget Revenue system. In the other forty-nine states, hospitals are paid using fee-for-service, which results…

  • New Technologies Can Help States Fight Opioid Abuse image

    New Technologies Can Help States Fight Opioid Abuse

    The Ohio Legislature is also currently considering such a measure. If passing these bills is successful, physicians will gain greater authority to prescribe what they see as the best treatment for the individual, specifically those who are at higher-risk for drug abuse than other patients.

  • Compassion or Barriers? image

    Compassion or Barriers?

    Which is compassionate: indicating a desire to increase access to mental health treatment for those in need of help, or raising barriers that will make people think twice before committing…

  • Contraception Mandate Once Again Up Before Supreme Court image

    Contraception Mandate Once Again Up Before Supreme Court

    The United States Supreme Court recently announced it will hear a challenge from faith-based nonprofit groups, led by Little Sisters of the Poor, on the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.

  • Premiums rise and providers leave market in Year Three of the ACA image

    Premiums rise and providers leave market in Year Three of the ACA

    The start of the third year of the Affordable Care Act has not worked as well as federal health officials had hoped. Implementation remains inconsistent and has caused significant…

  • Introducing Competition and Choice for Medicaid in North Carolina image

    Introducing Competition and Choice for Medicaid in North Carolina

    On September 23, 2015, Governor Pat McCrory signed into law landmark reform legislation for the North Carolina Medicaid program. The legislation will transition the state from a fee-for-service to a…

  • Roadmap to Interoperability image

    Roadmap to Interoperability

    Following a multi-year collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology has released a Roadmap for nationwide interoperability in Health…

  • Revolutionary Advancements in Life Sciences image

    Revolutionary Advancements in Life Sciences

    In conjunction with the 2015 Annual Meeting, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) hosted a joint event with Life Sciences companies to educate ALEC members on the process of introducing…

  • The Continuation of Executive Overreach: United States House of Representatives v. Burwell image

    The Continuation of Executive Overreach: United States House of Representatives v. Burwell

    On November 11, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives filed a complaint against Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell, and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.  Recently, the United States District Court…

  • Incentivizing the Digital Health Revolution image

    Incentivizing the Digital Health Revolution

    According to venture capital fund Rock Health, private investment in digital health startups in 2014 was $4.3 billion, a 125 percent increase from the previous year, easily surpassing investment in…

  • Harvard Researchers Developing Sepsis Therapeutic Device image

    Harvard Researchers Developing Sepsis Therapeutic Device

      More people in hospitals die from sepsis and septic shock than from breast or lung cancer. Currently, there is no known cure for sepsis—something researchers at Harvard’s Wyss…

  • The District’s Next Regulatory Overreach image

    The District’s Next Regulatory Overreach

    Under the auspice of ‘consumer protection’ the District of Columbia (D.C.) Board of Physical Therapy is currently writing rules that will impose a licensing requirement for certified Personal Trainers which…

  • Doctor Supply Side Problems With the ACA image

    Doctor Supply Side Problems With the ACA

    Those hoping for the Supreme Court to instruct the federal government to step back amidst increasing involvement in health care were sorely disappointed on June 25 when the SCOTUS delivered…

  • IRS Permitted to Offer Subsidies in Federal Exchanges, Supreme Court Rules image

    IRS Permitted to Offer Subsidies in Federal Exchanges, Supreme Court Rules

    In a split decision, the Supreme Court determined that the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to offer taxpayer subsidies through federally established exchanges is permissible. The plaintiffs in King v.

  • 12 States Release Proposed Premium Increases image

    12 States Release Proposed Premium Increases

    While premium filings aren’t expected from the federal government until next month, a report from The Wall Street Journal released Thursday provides a snapshot of preliminary 2016 rate filings…

  • Majority of Exchange Enrollees Previously Had Coverage image

    Majority of Exchange Enrollees Previously Had Coverage

    A new study this week from RAND Corp. estimates that just 4.1 of the 11.2 million people enrolled in exchanges were previously uninsured. The majority, 7.1 million, had coverage…

  • Medical Innovation in Focus for Congress image

    Medical Innovation in Focus for Congress

    The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, April 23, held a subcommittee hearing on the impact of the medical device tax on jobs, innovation and patients. Since January 2013, manufacturers…

  • Telemedicine Controversy in Texas image

    Telemedicine Controversy in Texas

    The Texas Medical Board views rules it adopted April 10 as “expanding telemedicine opportunities,” but business and industry groups insist they’ll instead serve to “drive a stake through…

  • What the Medicare ‘Doc Fix’ Means for States image

    What the Medicare ‘Doc Fix’ Means for States

    The U.S. Senate late Tuesday evening passed legislation containing a permanent ‘doc fix’ for calculating physician reimbursements under Medicare. By doing away with a decades old formula, the…

  • Supreme Court Sides with Idaho, Blocks Medicaid Lawsuits image

    Supreme Court Sides with Idaho, Blocks Medicaid Lawsuits

    On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, holding that Medicaid providers cannot sue states to increase reimbursement rates. In a 5-4 decision…